Nutrition for the Travelling Athlete

Introduction

Travel is part of the lives of many athletes, but there may be many challenges in achieving nutritional goals. Whether you are traveling abroad, traveling between states, or spending a few hours in a car, your goal is to be prepared to perform at your best. Traveling to participate in competitions can often create a festive atmosphere and put good nutrition aside; however, it is important to meet your nutritional needs in training and competitions.

 A successful athlete may need to travel to participate in their sport. There are many nutritional considerations for this, and there may be different environments (heat, cold, and altitude), changes in food supply and lifestyle that will affect your nutritional needs. The training and competition plans of Elite athletes include travel plans across multiple time zones, usually long-distance trips. In this case, travel can cause temporary fatigue and discomfort called “jet lag” that lasts for several days. Jet lag is due to changes in the body’s circadian rhythm: the circadian rhythm and the performance rhythm change, depending on the direction of travel and the number of time zones crossed during the flight. It is important to pay attention to diet and hydration during the flight and after disembarking, until the adaptation to the new meridian is completed. If food preparation and hygiene in training grounds or foreign competition venues are not adequate, the impact of jet lag on digestion rhythm may be exacerbated. The irony is that when performance requirements or results are more important, travel often puts athletes at greater risk of not meeting their specific nutritional goals or of dying from illness. Additionally, travel-related gastrointestinal infections are also common among athletes. It is recommended that support staff plan and organise themselves rigorously before travelling to avoid such problems. Similarly, athletes often need special education programs to help them meet the challenges of new and unusual food supplies or change the way food is sourced.

Some of the challenges faced by athletes include:

• Accessibility of healthy and nutritious food choices
• Non-essential nutritional food choices available
• Contaminated food and water
• Adverse weather conditions
• Jet lag

Ways to overcome challenges during travel

• Avoid travelling on a road; prefer fastest means of transportation
• Meals should be purchased in advance and brought to the team from a reliable restaurant or store. Food includes packaged meals, energy bars, fruits, roasted grams or peanuts, walnuts, sandwiches, etc. Avoid consumption food from roadside stalls.  Bring enough water to avoid dehydration and avoid external water that may be contaminated.
• Look for restaurants or food stores that offer healthy food options.
• Always practice weight control during the journey to avoid accumulating too many calories in the body.
• Pre-Plan meals on board or carry the meal
• Avoid eating high-fat and high-sugar foods in flight, which can lead to excessive intake of unnecessary calories. Instead, eat healthy foods that you can take with you.
• Drink enough water and unsweetened fruit juice to replenish the water, because jet lag can cause digestive problems.
• Make sure to replenish the stored water after the end.

After arriving at destination

• Learn more about this place and the food options there. If certain foods are unknown, understand their nutritional value and composition to ensure that they are suitable for consumption.
• After reaching the destination, the coach or team manager should study in detail the appropriate restaurants and grocery stores.
• Athletes should consume healthy foods such as whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, and lean meats for optimal nutrition.
• Asks how many times you can eat out during your stay.
• Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full. Do not over eat, which will affect your performance
• Check the supply of supplementary sports food in nearby stores.
• Try to drink only bottled water to avoid water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever or diarrhoea, and drink and wash fruits or vegetables before eating, and even brush your teeth if possible. Also try to avoid ice cubes.
• Be sure to eat whole fruits and vegetables that can be peeled. Avoid drinking fruit juice, because you can use contaminated water and ice cubes.

Before the start of the game

• Make sure to eat a pre-exercise snack 30 minutes before the start of the game. Including low fat, protein and carbohydrates.
• The goal is to eat a good post-exercise meal, such as whey protein, within 30 minutes after the game.
• A reasonable allocation of meals before the start of the game. Do not fill your stomach before the game starts.
• Drink branded bottled water before the competition.

What Traveling Athlete Need in a Diet?

For sports nutrition, knowing what foods to eat is essential to stay healthy and active. The food of athletes or very active people is slightly different from the food that ordinary people eat. Athletes need higher calorie intake because we burn more energy throughout the day. We also need nutritious foods to maintain our muscles, increase our endurance and support our performance.

Protein

When people think of sports food, they often think of protein. This is because when we damage muscles during exercise, we need protein to support our body while repairing and rebuilding them. Protein can also improve our carbohydrate storage, which can maintain energy levels without crashing. A good way is to take Nutrition Protein Powder.

Nutrition’s Options

Pre-packaged travel food is extremely low in nutrients, so look for salads and vegetable options at the airport. Try a green smoothie, or better, pack your own nutritious food from home, it can be the perfect antioxidant nutrition booster. They will strengthen your immune system, help reduce inflammation, and promote healthy digestion. In turn, our body feels better and can function better.

Snacks

Nuts, fruits, low-sugar protein bars, and even protein shakes/milk shake mixes if you are on a long flight.

Ways to stay Active for Travelling Athletes

Tryptophan is a component of melatonin, which increases the melatonin we naturally produce. Tryptophan is found in protein-containing foods, so a balanced diet containing protein, carbohydrates and fats should promote the production of natural melatonin and may minimize jet lag. Vegan Airplane Meal more suitable for travelling athletes.

Beat jetlag

Naturally reset your biological clock: the brain naturally releases the hormone melatonin at night to promote sleep, so this process will be interrupted by travel. Melatonin supplements help to resynchronize our biological clock and reduce the symptoms of jet lag; effective dosage regimens are between 2 and 8 mg. However, you can do this naturally by eating pistachios or just 8 walnuts that can provide 1 mg of melatonin. Pistachio is natural melatonin.

Supplements

• The use of dietary supplements is common in sports, but athletes should not expect to benefit from most of these supplements.
• Athletes look for many benefits in nutritional supplements, including:
• Facilitating training adaptation
• Increasing energy supply
• Promoting recovery between training sessions to achieve more consistent and intensive training
• Maintaining good health and reducing chronic fatigue, illness or training interruption caused by injury
• Improves competitive performance.

Plan a meal in advance

• Think about your first meal when you land or arrive: time has passed. You are exhausted and you really do not know where to start a healthy meal in a new city.
• Either do your research before you get there, or consider packing something simple, such as a bag of oatmeal and a banana.
• Pack your own competition day nutrition or training nutrition:
• This is very important: compete with the nutrition you have to consume.
• There is no need to rely on what is provided during the game, so prepare enough luggage for the day of the game and your carbohydrate load day.
• Hydration is definitely where you start on the journey, but with a little planning, you can stay healthy during the journey and really improve athletes’ nutrition by planning meals, snacks and adding important supplements during the trip.

Conclusion

Travel brings many challenges, which can damage nutrition and lead to poor performance. Plan and get more tips and nutrition information anytime, anywhere. Athletes can stay in regular hotels or even fully equipped suites. They can face challenges because optimal nutrition supports their performance. Therefore, advance planning or smart strategies to overcome the above-mentioned challenges can prevent athletes from meeting obstacles and help them perform effectively.